06 AUG 2009 _______________________________________ *FAA Chief Vows Rewrite of Pilot-Safety Rules *FAA change icing regulations *Eight hurt on Spanish jet at Paris airport *Engine fire forces Vueling A320 evacuation during pushback *FAA orders safety changes to Boeing 767 fuel tanks *Lawsuit over SC Learjet crash sent to state court *Aeroflot to convert fleet to Boeing, Airbus jets *Probes begin into helicopter crash *Helicopter Hit by Lightning *Merpati confirms 15 dead in Twin Otter crash *DOT continues to question management of startup Family Airlines **************************************** FAA Chief Vows Rewrite of Pilot-Safety Rules By ANDY PASZTOR WASHINGTON—Federal Aviation Administration chief Randy Babbitt, in his most detailed comments yet about combating pilot fatigue, vowed to tailor future regulations to better reflect the safety challenges facing commuter pilots. In a speech to the country's largest commercial-pilot union, the agency's administrator said the current "one size fits all" regulations don't adequately take into account fatigue typically experienced by commuter pilots, some of whom fly five or more segments per day. "It's absolutely unsafe to think," Mr Babbitt said, that such cockpit crews can fly as many hours or stay on duty for as long as pilots who may fly one long-range and execute a single landing route during the same day. Mr. Babbitt's comments indicate that the FAA, as part of its proposed sweeping rewrite of crew-scheduling rules, wants to mandate that commuter pilots get more rest, while probably allowing longer workdays on some long-range flights. Mr. Babbitt blasted the current rules as dating from "the propeller era." And in a pointed reference to complaints by airline-industry groups that the FAA is moving too fast in this area, the FAA chief vowed to continue pushing for accelerated effort. If labor and carrier representatives fail to reach consensus on scheduling-rule changes, he said, "we will close the gap and we will have a rule." Mr. Babbitt said the agency also is "working to revise training rules," including how to enhance training for less-experienced commuter pilots. Some lawmakers want to establish higher minimum mandatory flight hours for all incoming commuter pilots, but the FAA hasn't taken a formal position. During his speech, Mr. Babbitt also called on major airlines to take more responsibility to oversee the safety of their commuter partners. A big airline has "the right to say" it doesn't want to contract with a specific commuter carrier that falls short of safety goals or doesn't support voluntary safety reporting by pilots. In his wrapup remarks, the FAA chief said, "If you think the safety bar is set too high, then your standards are set too low." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124950069377208687.html ************** FAA change icing regulations The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) changed its certification standards for transport category airplanes to require either the automatic activation of ice protection systems or a method to tell pilots when they should be activated. The new rule requires an effective way to ensure the ice protection system is activated at the proper time. The rule applies to new transport aircraft designs and significant changes to current designs that affect the safety of flight in icing conditions. There is no requirement to modify existing airplane designs, but the FAA is considering a similar rulemaking that would cover those designs. Under the revised certification standards, new transport aircraft designs must have one of three methods to detect icing and to activate the airframe ice protection system: * An ice detection system that automatically activates or alerts pilots to turn on the ice protection system; * A definition of visual signs of ice buildup on a specified surface (e.g., wings) combined with an advisory system that alerts the pilots to activate the ice protection system; or * Identification of temperature and moisture conditions conducive to airframe icing that would tip off pilots to activate the ice protection system. The standards further require that after initial activation, the ice protection system must operate continuously, automatically turn on and off, or alert the pilots when the system should be cycled. (FAA) (aviation-safety.net) ************ Eight hurt on Spanish jet at Paris airport MADRID, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Eight people aboard a jet operated by Spanish airline Vueling (VULG.MC) were slightly hurt on Wednesday when one of its engines caught fire before it was due to take off from Paris's Orly airport, the airline said. The plane was evacuated after the fire began on the Airbus A320's (EAD.PA) right engine at 10.36 a.m. (0836 GMT), as it taxied from the terminal, Vueling said in a communique. It did not specify whether those hurt were passengers or crew. A replacement jet was due to continue the flight to Alicante in Spain, it said. http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSL53069 8720090805 *************** Engine fire forces Vueling A320 evacuation during pushback Eight passengers have been slightly injured during a Vueling Airbus A320 evacuation at Paris Orly. Vueling says the aircraft, scheduled to operate flight VY9127 to Alicante, was evacuated at 10:36 after a "small fire" broke out in its starboard engine during pushback. The aircraft was still "close to the terminal" at the time and all 165 passengers and crew left the twin-jet, with eight receiving minor injuries. While the carrier, newly merged with Clickair, has not identified the A320 involved, its fleet is fitted with CFM International CFM56 engines. Vueling says it has despatched a replacement aircraft which will conduct the Paris-Alicante service later today. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** FAA orders safety changes to Boeing 767 fuel tanks WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators on Wednesday ordered operators to make safety adjustments to the fuel tanks of more than 400 Boeing 767s registered in the U.S. in order to prevent a devastating midflight explosion. The safety directive issued by the Federal Aviation Administration gives operators of the popular airliner three years to install an automatic fuel pump shut-off system for the center fuel tanks on 767s. The concern is that if fuel in the tanks becomes too low while the pump is still operating, under certain conditions it could ignite fuel and air vapors, causing an explosion. In the meantime, flight crews are supposed to shut-off the pumps themselves when fuel gets low. The estimated fleetwide cost of complying with the order is $4.6 million. Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier said the Chicago-based aircraft manufacturer sent operators of 767s a service bulletin two years ago recommending the changes in Wednesday's FAA order. Compliance with service bulletins is voluntary. Verdier said she didn't know how many operators may have already installed the automatic shut-off systems. FAA has no authority to order foreign carriers operating 767s to install the shut-off systems, but most operators usually comply voluntarily or are ordered to do so by aviation authorities in their countries. There are about 960 of the 767s in operation worldwide, including 414 in the U.S., Verdier said. The latest order is one of a lengthy series of steps taken in the last decade to prevent the possible ignition of vapors inside fuel tanks in response to the explosion of TWA Flight 800 off the coast of New York's Long Island in 1996. All 230 people on board the Boeing 747 were killed. ************** Lawsuit over SC Learjet crash sent to state court COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A lawsuit over a fatal South Carolina Learjet crash that killed four people and injured two music celebrities should be handled in state court, a federal judge ruled this week. U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Perry Jr. on Monday granted the request by the jet's owner, Inter Travel & Services Inc. of Irvine, Calif., and its operator, Global Exec Aviation Inc. of Long Beach, Calif., to return the case to a state court. A Learjet managed by the two companies hurtled off the end of the runway of the Columbia Metropolitan Airport just before midnight on Sept. 19. Four people, including the pilot and co-pilot, were killed. Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and celebrity DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, were injured. Several months later, Inter Travel and Global Exec Aviation sued the airport, arguing that the design of the area beyond the runway contributed to the seriousness of the crash. The companies alleged there was not enough room for the plane to stop, that a fence damaged the jet's fuel tanks, and that the lowered roadway around the airport caused the plane to crash nose first into a raised embankment. The companies also sued Learjet Inc., Bombardier Aerospace Corp. and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., saying those manufacturers' designs were also to blame. In all, the jet's owner and operator are seeking more than $12 million in damages. Learjet and Bombardier countersued, blaming the damages on the jet's owner or operator. Attorneys for the manufacturers, airport and tire company did not immediately return messages Wednesday Inter Travel and Global Exec Aviation originally sued in South Carolina state court, but the case was moved to federal court after the defendants argued that their compliance with federal aviation regulations was at stake. In his six-page order, Perry said he wasn't convinced that a state-level court couldn't handle the issues, sending the matter back to state court. Perry also gave the defendants 60 days to appeal his ruling. Federal regulators have made recommendations of their own to Bombardier. Last month, the National Transportation Safety Board said the manufacturer might avert such deadly crashes by changing the design of a thrust mechanism on the Learjet 60. The NTSB has not issued its final report on the crash. In preliminary findings, investigators have said the plane was traveling 156 mph just before its pilots tried to abort the takeoff. Officials said there was little rubber left on the jet's wheels, and the brakes were badly damaged. Some aviation experts have said the pilots should have known they wouldn't be able to safely stop the plane and should have aborted the takeoff earlier. Aviation authorities have said recordings showed the jet's crew thought a tire had blown before takeoff, and the NTSB has said pieces of tire were recovered about 2,800 feet from where the plane started its takeoff. At least four other lawsuits have been filed after the crash. ___ On the Net: http://www.bombardier.com/ http://www.blink182.com/ http://www.djam.com/ http://www.newsday.com/lawsuit-over-sc-learjet-crash-sent-to-state-court-1.1 350247 **************** Aeroflot to convert fleet to Boeing, Airbus jets MOSCOW — Aeroflot's symbol is still the winged hammer and sickle, but otherwise, the former communist carrier has mostly shrugged off its Soviet past. The strongest evidence yet: By the end of the year, it will fly a fleet nearly entirely made in the U.S. and Western Europe. Aeroflot is selling all of its Tupolev jets, the workhorse passenger aircraft of the former East Bloc. Once they are gone, only six of about 100 jets in Aeroflot's fleet will be Russian-made. And those planes, Il-96s, will fly within Russia and on select foreign flights, including the Moscow-Havana and Moscow-Hanoi routes. That Aeroflot will fly almost exclusively Boeing and Airbus jets is a remarkable turn for a company that once owned virtually every civilian airplane in the Soviet Union. But the airline has tried to reinvent itself as a business carrier, and its passengers tend to prefer Western airplanes. While experts say Russian airplanes are well-constructed, poor maintenance and repairs brought them a bad reputation for safety after the Soviet collapse. And as any passenger will tell you, they are also more noisy and cramped. "I look at every bolt and every screw and wonder if any are loose, and I worry," Anastasia Tkachova, a student flying to London on Aeroflot, said while awaiting a flight at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. "It's more comfortable to fly an Airbus," another passenger, Mikhail Kotlyarov, said. But he was quick to add, with a touch of regret, "Russia will be left without its own airplanes." Not exactly. In fact, despite Aeroflot's move, Russia's domestic jet industry actually appears to be making an improbable comeback. It was the Russian-made planes' far greater fuel consumption that doomed them with Aeroflot, especially given the hard times in the industry worldwide. Aeroflot's chief executive, Vitaly Savelyev, said the company was losing money on about 40 percent of its routes and that it would have to lay off about 6,000 workers in the coming two or three years, the Vedomosti business newspaper reported last week. Over its history, of course, Aeroflot has had myriad problems. Horror stories abound, though statistically flying was as safe in Russia as in the West until a series of recent crashes involving both Western- and Russian-made jets, accidents blamed mostly on pilot error. Tkachova recalled one white-knuckled take-off when flight attendants, posted in the aisles and looking out the windows, periodically called out updates to the cockpit about ice forming on the wings. Irina Danenberg, Aeroflot's spokeswoman, said Aeroflot was selling its Tu-154 jets because they burned so much fuel compared with Western planes, not because of safety concerns. The Soviet legacy is "completely irrelevant" today, Nikolai Kovarsky, a Moscow-based business consultant, said of Aeroflot. "They're extremely friendly, extremely professional. The service is impeccable. And they're Russian." Aeroflot now operates 26 Tu-154 jets that it is taking out of service and selling, in the process laying off cabin crews to help shed employees. The reshaping of its fleet is seen as a victory for the company, which has struggled to shed its role as a source of subsidies for Russian airplane factories. It is a trend in Russian aviation. For now, the Tu-154 and a smaller variant, the Tu-134, remain the most common passenger airplane in Russia, with about 600 in service. Russian airlines have placed orders for about 100 of the Tupolev factory's newer replacement, the Tu-204. But there are just as many Russian orders for Boeing and Airbus airplanes, according to Airclaims CIS, an aviation consultancy. Russian aerospace is among the few competitive sectors of Russia's economy outside petroleum. The absence of modern planes now is not, in fact, a reflection of the current state of the industry but of the post-collapse crisis of the 1990s — the lead time is long on new plane designs. After a restructuring of aircraft manufacturers in 2005, a new crop of Russian planes is expected on the market through the next decade. Aeroflot has placed orders for 30 new regional jets being built by Sukhoi in partnership with Boeing. And the Sukhoi superjet is also being marketed worldwide. Meanwhile, the disappearance of the Tupolevs from Aeroflot's fleet should not be seen as a "blow to the image" of Russian plane makers, said Boris Bychkov, the general director of the Moscow office of Airclaims. "We still have excellent fighter jets." http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/boeingaerospace/2009606796_aeroflot06. html ************** Probes begin into helicopter crash OTTAWA — The Sûreté du Québec and the Transportation Safety Board are investigating a helicopter crash that killed a CTV cameraman and the helicopter pilot in Mont-Laurier on Wednesday. Const. Steve Lalande, a provincial police spokesman, said CTV cameraman Hugh Haugland who was recording the aftermath of the tornado and pilot Roger Belanger, 63, an experienced helicopter and airplane pilot from Mont-Laurier were killed instantly in the crash beside Highway 117. Haugland, 44, was the father of two girls and the son of former CTV anchorman Bill Haugland. Const. Lalande said police found the helicopter in the ditch after the crash which was reported at 9:15 a.m. The police and the Transportation Safety Board will conduct a joint investigation into the crash. The weather at the time of the crash was sunny. There were two people in the helicopter and no one on the ground when it crashed and burned. John Cottreau, a spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board, said the remains of the Enstrom 28 helicopter were wrapped and taken to the board’s Ottawa laboratory for testing on Wednesday. The light helicopter was one of 1,200 produced by Enstrom Helicopter Corp. of Menominee, Michigan. A National Transportation Safety Board report in the United States lists it as one of 10 helicopter models involved in 357 of the 500 fatal helicopter crashes in the U.S. from 1981 to 1994. A Transportation Safety Board of Canada reported that a similar Enstrom 280 model crashed and burned near Duncan B.C. in 2005 after the tail rotor assembly broke away from the helicopter. Cottreau said investigators will examine the helicopter blades, controls and engine to determine whether a mechanical failure caused the crash. He said the investigation will determined how the crash happened in an effort to prevent similar tragedies in the future. The investigation could take more than a year. http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Probes+begin+into+helicopter+crash/1863299 /story.html ************** Helicopter Hit by Lightning Four people were injured last night when lightning struck a helicopter while it was on the ground in central Idaho. The helicopter was helping fight a wildfire in the Payette National Forest. Crew members were tying down the chopper when it was struck. None of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries. Damage to the helicopter is still being surveyed. http://www.670kboi.com/Article.asp?id=1444031&spid=18042 *************** Merpati confirms 15 dead in Twin Otter crash Rescue teams have reached the Merpati Nusantara de Havilland Canada Twin Otter that crashed in west Papua on 2 August, and have confirmed all 15 passengers were killed. The priority now is evacuating the crash victims, says Merpati. The airline is also not sure what caused the crash, and uncertain if the aircraft's flight data recorder has been retrieved. The victims number 15. Merpati says the flight carried three crew and 12 passengers. Two passengers were infants. Indonesia's Directorate General of Air Communications (DGAC) will investigate the crash, says Merpati. The aircraft crashed on 2 August 23nm (43km) north of Oksibil town. The wreckage is on a plateau in the Bintang mountains in West Papua. The downed aircraft is a 30-year old de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter with the Indonesian registration PK-NVC. It was one of five Twin Otters in Merpati's fleet. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** DOT continues to question management of startup Family Airlines US regulators may dismiss Family Airlines' application to launch domestic operations due to the startup's failure to address DOT concerns about its management and finances. Family Airlines sought US DOT approval last year to link Las Vegas with New York City, Los Angeles, Honolulu, San Francisco and Miami, where it seeks to establish an operations and maintenance base. Las Vegas-based Family Airlines said in a regulatory filing that it plans to purchase three Boeing 747-300s and to acquire up to nine additional aircraft during its first year of operation. But before the company can inaugurate flights, the carrier must alleviate DOT concerns about its CEO, Barry Michaels. Michaels was convicted of a fraudulent stock offering in 1993, which regulators said in May 2008 is enough to keep the company from winning clearance to launch operations. Despite a DOT request that Michaels take a more "passive role" with the carrier, Michaels has maintained his involvement with Family Airlines, prompting the DOT to seek information about his past to review Michaels' "disposition toward compliance with laws, rules and regulations". Family Airlines declined to provide DOT with the requested information and now is at risk of having its application dismissed unless it addresses DOT concerns within 14 days from 4 August. Vanessa Balgobin, an analyst in the DOT's air carrier fitness division, says in a letter to Michaels, "We remain concerned about [Family Airlines'] fitness in every area: managerial competence, finances and compliance disposition." She adds, "Considering [Family Airlines'] failure to date to meet its burden of establishing its managerial competence, its financial ability to begin operations and its compliance disposition, the department does not intend to continue to process [Family Airlines'] application unless the air carrier takes immediate steps to rectify these shortcomings." Family Airlines was not immediately available for comment. Michaels first attempted to launch Family in 1992 with 747 flights from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and New York. The company had purchased a single aircraft, but Michaels says he was pushed out of the company, and eventually that carrier went out of business without inaugurating service. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************* Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC